<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Proof by gremlins-came-and-got-me (Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27174019">Proof</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark/pseuds/gremlins-came-and-got-me'>gremlins-came-and-got-me (Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asshole Chris Argent, Burned Peter Hale, Dead Hales, Dead Paige Krasikeva, Gen, Post Hale Fire, Pre-Season 1, Presumed Dead Cora, Traumatized Derek, Understanding Chris Argent, Young Hales</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:56:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,506</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27174019</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scared_Beings_in_the_Dark/pseuds/gremlins-came-and-got-me</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris confronts Laura at the hospital and demands proof that her remaining family didn’t kill the poor girl found torn to shreds. Laura holds her ground and they come to an agreement. Unfortunately for them, it sets the events of January six years later in motion.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Proof</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Does Major Character Death apply if the characters that are dead were all dead before the show even started?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chris sees Laura Hale in the hospital and runs to catch her.</p>
<p>Predictably, she drops into a crouch, eyes bleeding red, teeth a little too sharp.</p>
<p>“Relax,” he says. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He follows her glance to the door next to her. “Or your uncle. Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about: his eyes are still yellow. He’s innocent.”</p>
<p>She straightens, features human. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p>
<p>“That girl that disappeared. What was her name? Paige Krasikeva? The Sheriff’s Department found her body. It looked like she’d been torn apart by a wild animal.” Laura startles, but her face remains blank. Chris sighs. “You and I both know that the only wild animal here—”</p>
<p>“Don’t finish that sentence if you know what’s good for you,” Laura threatens him.</p>
<p>“There’s no mountain lions here,” Chris says instead. “I need proof that it wasn’t a member of your family.”</p>
<p>“You’ve ruled out Peter,” she says. “And me apparently.”</p>
<p>That leaves just Derek goes unspoken. Chris hasn’t met the sixteen year old. He knows he’s close by—the Hales have been inseparable since the horror of their home burning down less than ten hours ago. He needs to see Derek’s eyes, his true eyes, so that he can tell his father that the Hales had nothing to do with the girl’s death, so that his father will stop his rampage.</p>
<p>“Please,” Chris says, swallowing down the effort of that one word.</p>
<p>Laura narrows her eyes at him. A figure detaches from the wall where it was hiding in the shadows, and a young man, soot still smudged over his face, eyes swollen and red-rimmed, tear tracks marching down his cheeks, stands next to Laura.</p>
<p>Derek is taller than Chris expected, but it’s obvious he’s still a child. He’s draped in a jacket far too big for him, his jeans tied with a length of rope instead of a belt.</p>
<p>“Your eyes,” Chris asks softly. He tells himself that it’s because they’re in a public place, but he knows, looking at Derek, he wouldn’t believe him capable of hurting anyone. But Derek is a werewolf. His whole body is a weapon.</p>
<p>Derek blinks slowly, and when his lids lift, Chris suppresses a shudder at the bright, electric blue of his eyes.</p>
<p>Instinctively, he reaches for his sidearm. Laura lifts a warning claw. He drops his hand.</p>
<p>“You know I need to take him,” he says to Laura. Derek stifles a sob, breath hitching. Chris tamps down on his sympathies, hardens his heart. This boy is a killer. The proof is right there.</p>
<p>“I won’t let you,” Laura says lowly. “I’ll rip this whole town apart before I let you kill another member of my family.”</p>
<p>“Look at him,” Chris says, and then does his best not to. Derek Hale cuts a pathetic figure right now, and if Chris looks at him for too long, then he knows he won’t see the beast that tore that poor girl apart. He’ll see himself after his mother was killed on a hunt. “He killed that girl.”</p>
<p>Laura snarls sharply. “I don’t care if you can prove anything,” she snaps. “You won’t touch him.”</p>
<p>Chris goes for his gun again and gets knocked back into the wall, the points of Laura’s claws dangerously close to his jugular. She’s not even breathing hard.</p>
<p>“I know you’ve just lost so much of your family, but we have a code. I have to follow that code.”</p>
<p>“Your code is what killed my family,” Laura says. “Or do you think it coincidence that a werewolf house burned down and only one member of the family was able to get out or survive? You know you’re more of a monster than my brother ever will be.” She pauses, adjusts her grip on his shoulder, her claws poking into the vulnerable skin of his throat. “If you take him,” she says, “I’ll kill your whole family. Starting with your daughter.”</p>
<p>Chris glares at her. How dare she bring Allison into this?! His daughter is eleven and innocent. More than she can say about her brother. And then he remembers that Cora, Laura and Derek’s younger sister, was eleven too. She would have been considered an innocent with prejudice. After all, what eleven year old has claws and teeth?</p>
<p>“Laura, please let go,” Derek begs suddenly, and Chris is relieved when Laura does let him go, stepping back quickly.</p>
<p>A nurse passes by, shooting them all an odd look, before she disappears into Peter Hale’s room.</p>
<p>Almost instantly, Laura is on Chris again, jerking his gun away and handing it to Derek, who sets it on a nearby seat.</p>
<p>“Your code is responsible for the deaths of more people than my family ever was. If you take Derek, I will hunt you down and tear you apart. If you even come back to Beacon Hills, it had better be over my dead body.”</p>
<p>“I’ll leave if you leave,” Chris says. He knows, okay, he’s not stupid, despite his dad’s best insults, the fire wasn’t an accident. He knows the investigator. It’s going to be ruled an electrical fire, but Laura is right: there is no way a werewolf could be burned in a house fire that was set accidentally or even on purpose. Someone trapped them in there. And the part that Chris has done his best to repress is that there were humans and children in there. Derek may not be innocent, but the rest of his family was.</p>
<p>“What would you do for your daughter?” Laura asks. Her hand flexes on his shoulder and then she steps back, arms crossed, waiting for his answer.</p>
<p>“Everything,” Chris says, softly enough that if his father was listening, he couldn’t hear. All Laura does is cock her head and nod.</p>
<p>“I will leave town,” she says, “with my brother, but you must do the same.”</p>
<p>“I won’t let you leave with a killer.”</p>
<p>Derek shudders where he’s pressed against Laura’s back. A child. Broken, beaten, lost, and innocent even when he keeps his bright blue eyes downcast.</p>
<p>“Prove that he’s not the killer. Give me the proof I need,” Chris offers, “and I will let you go. I won’t pursue you.” He looks pointedly at the door hiding Peter’s charred body. “I won’t ever bother you again.”</p>
<p>“Proof?” Laura arches an eyebrow, ice in her tone. “What proof do you deserve? Why don’t you prove that you and your hunting family had nothing to do with the murder of my family?” She waits a beat. “That’s right: you can’t. Even you don’t believe that they had nothing to do with it.”</p>
<p>“His eyes,” Chris says, weakly.</p>
<p>“Your eyes would be blue too if you thought you were responsible for the death of an innocent. Your eyes would be blue if you were like us.”</p>
<p>Laura snaps her fingers, and Derek hands Chris’ gun to her. She twists it apart, drops the bullets to the floor, flattening them beneath a heel. Then she holds out the pieces. Chris takes them.</p>
<p>Staring at his broken gun, Chris thinks that she has more humanity in her little finger than he has in his whole body, and he bows his head. “I’m leaving tonight,” he says. “Can you say the same?”</p>
<p>Laura pursues her lips, distaste evident. “You would drive us from our remaining family member in his time of need?”</p>
<p>“You need to leave,” Chris tries again. “I’ll have to report your brother’s eyes to my father. If you’re still here when he comes to find you, your brother will die.”</p>
<p>Laura glares, spine straightening as she looms over him. He holds his ground. He’s right. She knows he’s right. His father won’t stop once he hears about Derek’s eyes, and Chris isn’t going to be the one to tell him that he let them go. She stares him down for a few minutes, long enough that the nurse in Peter’s room exists, skirting them with more odd looks, before she stands down, steps away, hand curling around Derek’s wrist and tugging him with her.</p>
<p>“If I hear about Peter’s death, I will find you and I will kill you.”</p>
<p>“We won’t touch him,” Chris promises. He knows a few warders. He’ll get Peter’s room enchanted as soon as possible. Peter is innocent. He deserves a chance that he won’t get if Gerard has any say.</p>
<p>“We hunt those who hunt us,” he says.</p>
<p>Laura shakes her head. “Just because we can kill, it doesn’t mean that we’re killers.”</p>
<p>“Godspeed.”</p>
<p>Chris turns his back, counts to ten, and when he turns around, Laura and Derek are gone, the only evidence they ever were there is a soot-covered chair with the over-sized jacket draped over the arm.</p>
<p>He picks it up, finds the stitching inside, and decides to return it to the newly elected sheriff on his way out of town. Then, he pulls out his phone and dials a number he isn’t supposed to have.</p>
<p>~ End ~</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>